All posts tagged Toshiba

Some companies in Japan are literally springing forward as they lay out plans to cope with the government’s target of cutting energy use by 25% this summer, in a departure from the country’s long-held aversion to daylight savings time. But in the absence of an enforceable nationwide policy to formally move Japan’s clock forward an hour, the selective adoption will likely produce spotty results if a failed attempt in Hokkaido is any indication.

“We are not discriminating at all,” a Toshiba executive said in response to the shareholder’s question. “It’s just that we haven’t found appropriate candidates. We expect to have female executives in near future,” he said. Read More »

Visitors try Nintendo’s 3DS handheld players at the Nintendo Conference 2010 in September. The company will begin sales of the 3DS in February.

On the heels of a warning by Nintendo about the possible negative impact on young children from viewing 3-D images, Toshiba said it is following an electronics industry consortium’s recommendations by issuing a similar warning for its glasses-free 3-D television.

It was similar to a warning Toshiba issued several months ago about the possible side effects of viewing 3-D images on the eyesight of children six years old and younger. But it was the first time Toshiba spoke about the possible impacts of 3-D after the warning by Nintendo heightened concerns about the technology.

Toshiba Corp. is joining the tablet PC onslaught at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Unlike some of its competitors, however, what it is simply calling the Toshiba Tablet won’t be sold in conjunction with a wireless carrier, and can’t access the Internet through a cellular connection.

That’s because Toshiba imagines that people will buy and use tablets more like they do portable computers than smartphones, says Jeff Barney, a vice president at the company.

E-publishing sensation: A woman uses an Apple iPad tablet computer at the Frankfurt Book Fair last month. Later this week Tokyo’s Akihabara district hosts the Electronic Book and Manga Summit.

Monday: Fresh from reporting solid first-half earnings but sounding a note of caution for the rest of the fiscal year, Nissan unveils its latest new vehicle, the Serena min-van. But the jury’s out on whether this or any other new auto launch in Japan will be enough to offset the impact of the end of government incentives to buy eco-friendly cars in September.

Tuesday: Toshiba becomes the latest of Japan’s technology giants to reveal how its businesses fared in the first half of the fiscal year ended September. Were strong sales of of consumer electronics goods, particularly in Asia, enough to help the giant company absorb the stubbornly strong yen?

Japanese film legend Akiro Kurosawa, perhaps best known in the West for directing ‘Seven Samurai’, gets the full retrospective treatment at the National Film Center in Tokyo in a festival that starts today and runs through Dec. 26. Read More »

Saving the environment is about as popular a corporate cause as curing cancer. But as some of the world’s biggest names in the environmental movement descend on Nagoya, located at the footsteps of Toyota Motor Corp.’s headquarters, the Prius maker has mostly kept to itself.

Toyota said it will not be flaunting the Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, during the 10th conference of the Convention on Biological Diversity, also known as COP10. The auto maker has declined to use the convention as a promotional blitz of events, stunts or otherwise showcasing its environmental accomplishments.

Ministers from all corners of the world have gathered in Nagoya in a final push for a United Nations deal to protect the environment. As one of the biggest conferences to be held in Japan this year, it was expected to draw 8,000 visitors with representatives from more than 190 countries. Read More »

And 3-D is among the main themes at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, also known as Ceatec. If you are looking for a big-screen experience, Sony Corp.’s section features a gigantic 21.7-meter-wide (roughly 71 feet) 3-D screen by combining liquid crystal display modules.

Every time Sony ran a demo clip using the entire screen for a few minutes, visitors stopped and picked up viewing glasses from the booth staff. When the demo clip wasn’t on, visitors could try out high-profile PlayStation titles such as Gran Turismo 5 in 3-D, using nearly half of the screen.

Toshiba Corp. in December will start selling the world’s first 3-D televisions that work without those clunky glasses, but the company gave reporters a sneak peak at the new 3-D screens sans eyewear.

AFP/Getty Images

An executive of Japanese electronics company Toshiba, Masaaki Oosumi (L), unveils a 3-D television that doesn’t require viewers to wear special glasses.

Initially, Toshiba plans to sell the televisions in small sizes –- 12-inch and 20-inch models. But behind a heavy black curtain in a dimly lit room in the back of the company’s booth at this week’s Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, also known as CEATEC, Toshiba showed off a prototype of a mammoth 56-inch version of the technology.

While some of the technology was impressive in displaying depth, it was pretty obvious that this is still very much a work in progress. The picture quality wasn’t quite as sharp as what consumers can find in current 3-D models using glasses, and the colors on the glasses-free screens also seemed darker. The lack of sharpness was perhaps most obvious on the 56-inch screen.

What’s more, the 3-D effect on the large display seemed slightly less consistent, with some images looking clearer and deeper than others. However, it’s not clear whether that is the fault of the display or the content being shown. Read More »

Rafael Nadal of Spain and 32 other tennis pros come to Tokyo this week for the latest leg of the Asia Tour. Mr. Nadal, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, headlines the Japan Open.

Monday: Toshiba holds a briefing to discuss a new strategy for its liquid crystal display television, with all eyes on an expected announcement regarding a 3-D television that does not require special glasses — the holy grail of the 3D TV world.

The annual two-day Worldsteel conference starts in Tokyo on Monday where industry executives and academics gather to discuss industry outlook and new technologies.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is likely to hold talks with several leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels Monday, including South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr. Kan is expected to seek support for Tokyo’s position in its diplomatic row with China during the bilateral meetings. Will the prime minister go so far as to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao?

Some of tennis’s biggest stars, including Spanish player Rafael Nadal, who will open the tournament, descend on Tokyo to play in the Rakuten-sponsored Japan Open. The tournament runs thru Oct. 10.

Tuesday: It’s the opening day of CEATEC, Japan’s biggest consumer electronics trade show. While it pales in comparison to its bigger U.S. cousin, the Consumer Electronics Show, which is held in Las Vegas every January, CEATEC will be a venue for Japanese electronics firms’ to showcase their green energy products. Attendees can expect to hear a lot about rechargeable batteries for electric cars or home energy systems as well as solar power cells.

Nissan, the only car maker taking part in CEATEC, will bring a ‘smart city drive simulator’ to the event. Created in joint development with Namco Bandai Games Inc., the driving simulator represents the Yokohama of the near future based on the “Yokohama Smart City Project,” a project designed to recreate a low-carbon city, in ultra-high definition 3-D.

The Bank of Japan’s two-day policy meeting ends. Analysts anticipate the central bank will decide to take additional monetary policy easing measures at the meeting. Read More »

The loser is SED, a flat-panel display technology that Canon Inc. had been working on for nearly a quarter-century. SED drew on traditional cathode-ray tube televisions and promised a crisper, brighter picture. The TVs were supposed to use less power and be easier to make.

“We want to make a wall-hanging TV sized at 40 to 60 inches by the year 2000,” a Canon manager told the trade journal EE Times in January 1997.

It was an odd ambition for the camera and copier maker, which wasn’t in the TV business, and Canon soon decided to tie up with Toshiba Corp. At a June 1999 press conference, the chief executives of the two companies announced plans to manufacture 50,000 units a month by 2002.

About Japan Real Time

Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com